1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to those methods and machines used to manufacture articles such as belt buckles, especially to those using multiple dies that provide a decorative covering over inner and outer rigid members such as buckle pieces.
2. Background Information
Previously, decorative belt buckles have been manufactured, consisting of two separate buckle frame pieces, normally stamped from sheet iron, one an inner piece and the other an outer piece with their edges bent to cooperatively engage. The upper piece is usually covered, without the use of an adhesive, of a compatible material with the clothes with which the buckle will be worn. A patch of the material is clamped between the edges of the inner and outer buckle pieces by the use of a set of special dies.
Commercially successful dies are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,841,859 to Kurt Spendel, "Device for Mounting of Covered Buckles", July 8, 1958. Spendel uses a pair of dies which will be referred to a "lower dies", one to receive the outer buckle piece and the other to recieve the inner buckle piece. A pliable covering is placed over the outer buckle piece in the first of the lower dies and this combination urged into a mating cavity in the upper die. Then the inner buckle piece is placed in the second lower die, the edges of which are urged into a mating and clamping relationship with the outer buckle member and the decorative covering. Each of the dies has a main frame, a core piece and a pressure frame such that pressure against the core results in pressure against the pressure frames that engage the buckle pieces and the material in a sequential relationship to form the buckle. A review of the Spendel patent is helpful in forming a more comprehensive understanding of the dies and their sequence of operation, since variations of these dies are referred to in the description of the preferred embodiment.